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What was your first job? I was a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. I think my old whistle is still in my parents' lo. What are the best and worst parts of your job? The best part is making things better for our customers. Even if it's as simple as rewriting a calling card to make it clearer, then it means a customer's experience of us is improved. The worst part was wading People & Opinion Utility Week community Reader of the week Craig Rance, senior marketing executive, Thames Water waist-deep through a sewer at Christmas that was so clogged with fat it spilled over the top of my waders. What's your dream job and why? I turned down the chance to work on a farm in Australia for a year and have always regret- ted not going. I think I'd go back and take up the offer for a summer. What's your most treasured possession? My Utility Week award. It was for a campaign about blocked sew- ers so I keep it in my bathroom by the toilet. In the Hollywood film of your life, who would play you? Gene Kelly. I'd like to mislead people into thinking I could dance. What album is currently in your car CD player? Frank Turner: England Keep My Bones. What's your favourite film and TV programme? Film: It's a Wonderful Life. TV: The Big Bang Theory. What quote or saying do you most overuse? Bin it – don't block it. I've been working on the campaign for a few years now and the words have stuck to me along with the phrase "fatberg". If you ruled the world, what would you do first? I'd make sure England make it to the Rugby World Cup final, but somehow avoid playing New Zealand. What's your favourite joke? Why did the potato wear sun- glasses? To cover its eyes. My four-year-old niece made up that joke and told me aer I'd been awake for 48 hours. I was deliriously tired and it made me laugh like a drain. UTILITY WEEK | 18TH - 24TH SEPTEMBER 2015 | 7 The Energy Technologies Institute has published a report exploring the particular environment needed for low-carbon innovation to flourish. The report puts forward a conceptual model of low-carbon innovation in the UK and suggests how this could be optimised, taking into consideration market confi- dence, finance, public policy and available innovation skills. Here is how the report charac- terises the challenges: The significant global exter- nality of climate change makes it extremely difficult to create large-scale markets for low-carbon technologies. Markets in carbon emissions are missing and the carbon price is volatile and a poor basis for decision-making. The risk of lock-in to sub- optimal technologies is high. The energy system is dependent on past investments in infrastructure that create inertia and make it difficult for alternative disruptive technolo- gies to succeed. Incumbents have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Some innovations will, in addi- tion, require significant changes in business models or consumer behaviour. Lead times to development and deployment are unusually long and there is considerable risk and uncertainty, more so than for other areas of innovation, making it hard to attract the required level of private finance. Instability in environmental policymaking can add to the uncertainty as policies tend to vary with the electoral cycle and with changes in the national and world economy. Co-ordination failures: there are multiple funding bodies, research centres, government departments, agencies and commercial players in many sectors of the economy, whose interests may not align. This section of the report concludes by saying: "We cannot remove all of the challenges, but a crucial one which can be addressed is the flow of information that links together the different aspects of the innovation process. This is impor- tant to minimising the risk of delay and dead ends." RESEARCH Respondents to the Utility Week-Wipro Innovation Barom- eter who say their organisation invests enough in innova- tion. Respondents to the Util- ity Week-Wipro Innova- tion Barometer say their organisation does not invest enough in innova- tion. Find out more, p28 54% 46% Innovation sentiment "Modelling undertaken by Moixa indicates that the optimal system for an average family home is a 1.6kWp array together with 2kWh of storage coupled to a 400W AC storage export capability" Simon Daniel, chief executive Moixa Energy Holdings in a letter explaining why recent cuts to subsidies for renewables could benefit the domestic energy storage market.